Is this gout or something else?

Thanks Jeff that's what I thought, if no swelling I doubt its gout and no stiffness probably not arthritis so I'm at a loss to what it is. Once we get the bloods back we can move forward.

thanks for your response.

Thanks, I thought gout was on the 2nd joint not the first joint? I'm am slightly over weight and do drink beer so i am at risk however the pain never really goes away, it's a dull ache that can be really painful or not so bad, I thought gout came in attacks rather than a constant pain. My Doctor is leaving the surgery at the end of the month anyway so I'll automatically be assigned a new one so I'll discuss what you have said to my new doctor when I get an appointment. Thanks for responding. David

I have never heard of not testing during a attack talked to at least 3 different Dr all tested me

The normal pain in the big toe (podagra), is typically on the big joint, (what would be the knuckle if it were on your hand. However I'm sure there is variation. Typically gout pain comes and goes, but for some people it can stay for weeks or months. Maybe your doctor should consider damge by another form of arthritis? An X ray would certainly help. Have you at some point ever damaged that toe?

As for the dull pain - some people have the agony form of gout - most of my attacks were rather the dull achey kind rather than agony.

As for being a regular beer drinker - that will certianly encourage gout.

Asprin is also bad for gout btw. The best apinkiller is probably ibufren as it is anti immflamatory too. 

What could help is to cut out all alcohol and drink waer - enough to make you urinate at least 2 litres per day (thats a lot of water cos we sweat and lose it through our faeces so you need more than 2 litres to pee two litres). Flushing the body through with water should help if it is gout, as the monosodium urate crystals can redesolve and be removed by the kidneys. 

PS they can do a blood test to test for rhumatism I believe.

Then a) they don't know (they forgot what they were taught in med school on a boring afternoon on the one day they covered gout) b) they dont bother to read the guidelines given to them.

The NHS say It’s sometimes best to wait until two to four weeks after an attack of gout before this test is carried out, as the level of uric acid in your blood is often not raised at the time of an attack. This is because the level of uric acid in your blood can drop when uric acid crystals form in the joints.

However the NICE guidlines are more specific becuase I suspect most patients won't read it:

Follow up the person 4–6 weeks after an acute attack of gout has resolved, and check their Serum uric acid level.

Thanks for your reply, I can't remember damaging that toe before so not sure what this could be, it's proper painful but with no stiffness, inflammation or anything only pain. I'll give up the alcohol and drink water as suggested and see if the condition improves.

I must say that swelling and redness are somewhat typical of gout. Gout seems to manifest in different ways in different people, but I would not be surprised if it were not actually gout. The fact is though that these things tend to sort themselves out. I would not assume though that just because you give up the alcohol and drink more (healthy in themsleves), that just because it then clears up you had gout....it might be best to wait til it has gone and see if you have high blood urate. If not, I guess it could be some kind of rhumatism, but I know nothing about that..... lets just hope its one of these weird things that comes for a few weeks and just disappears. Good luck either way!